


Proof of Life

by Eravalefantasy



Series: Alistair: His life, his love, his future [5]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Major character death - Freeform, not canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 22:36:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5683507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eravalefantasy/pseuds/Eravalefantasy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ferelden comes for its heir, hidden for the past few years in Tantervale with his wife and child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There are four words a wife never wants to hear. _You will lose him._   Yet Morrigan sat on a large boulder near the river and said the words to Elissa.

“What? What do you mean ‘I will lose him’?” Elissa’s heart raced. Morrigan could be cruel when her mood was foul, but their talk had been pleasant until Morrigan spoke those words.

Morrigan eased off the boulder and sat next to Elissa on near the water’s edge.  “Please do not sit there and lie to me Elissa. You received the letter from Teagan did you not?”

Elissa had received a letter from Teagan. She’d burned it after reading it once.  Anora had no heir. Teagan asked the impossible. They were dead. There was no returning from their deception.

“’Tis a simple deduction, my friend – the Queen of Ferelden has no heir. The Guerrin family does not wish to see another family ascend the throne. Out pops little Alistair ‘surprise’ and ‘I’m not dead’ with a child all ready to assume the throne when he dies. You are simply being naïve if you think to keep him and Aislinn hidden.” 

Elissa heard the approaching horses before she realized what was happening.  She hurried along the river back towards home to find Alistair struggling as four guards held him down. “Elissa! Don’t let them take her! Teagan is in the house, Lis. Aislinn!” Alistair’s tears told her it was true. Ferelden had come for its heir.

Elissa threw open the door to hear her daughter’s wail and Teagan holding her roughly. “Put . . . her . . . down or I swear I will gut you where you stand. You cannot have my daughter.”

Teagan sneered. “Did you think to fool us all and hide Ferelden’s heir? This child is a Theirin and she will lead Ferelden. I recommend you say goodbye.” Teagan spun around and carried Aislinn out the door. Elissa grabbed a blade and stalked after him.

Alistair pushed to his feet and struggled against his captors. Teagan stood before Alistair is face red with rage. “How dare you, Alistair? How dare the both of you desert your country and your duty! Be grateful your child will rule over Ferelden and not pay for your treason! Queen Anora will raise the child as her own.”

Alistair’s sadness gave way to furious rage. “Never, I will send you all to the Void before that sow touches my daughter!”

Elissa watched as Alistair took down the first guard. She attacked and felled one of the four guards leaving two for them to fight. She tossed her blade to Alistair and turned to Teagan to snatch Aislinn. She lunged and grabbed her daughter. Her face met his and the look of horror and his arm outstretched as though he could stop whatever took place behind her.

“No!” Teagan’s voice raised a panic and fear she had never known.

Elissa tilted her head as she watched Teagan’s expression melt to sorrow and he shook his head.

“I’m sorry, my love.” Alistair’s voice barely reached her ears.

She turned and watched him fall, a crimson stain spread from his heart across his chest. “Alistair?”

Her knees buckled, she sank to the grass and slid to him. “Al? You’ll be fine, Morrigan is at the river. She’ll help. Just breathe, love.”

“No. Lis. Take her and run.  I love you, always.” Alistair’s breathing was labored. He grunted as he stood to face the two guards.

Elissa held Aislinn to her chest. Teagan did not move towards her.

“We have our orders from Her Majesty. They die.” One of the guards said. Elissa screamed as the guard’s sword pushed through Alistair and he dropped to the ground.

Teagan’s eyes wide in fear his voice whispered to her. “Run.”

Elissa’s muscles carried her as fast as they could every step. She stumbled several times but never loosened her grip on Aislinn. She returned to the spot where Morrigan had been less than an hour ago and found she was gone.

Elissa did not know where to go. She had her daughter but Alistair, sweet Alistair was .. .no. She would protect Aislinn and keep moving towards help; each step she fought to keep her sorrow and emptiness from impeding her escape but after an hour she could no longer move, fell her knees and sobbed.


	2. Chapter 2

Elissa cried out in her sleep she called to him knowing he would not answer. Her cries turned to screams. She held the pillow over her face to muffle her pain.

Alistair woke earlier when Aislinn fussed and brought her into the kitchen when Elissa’s screams began. He laid his daughter in her small bed and ran into the bedroom.

Elissa was sobbing into her pillow and her body shook violently. He tried to take the pillow from her face and her screaming intensified. Alistair picked her up and held her to his chest. “Lis! Elissa! Breathe love, you’re safe. Elissa, look at me.” He smoothed her hair and rocked her in his arms unsure of what happened. “Lis, open your eyes.”

She clawed through the bedding to feel the body that held her now. “Ow! Hey, Lis, that’s my skin! Be gentle, I’m sensitive remember?”

She felt the rumble from his laughter and pulled herself closer to him. It was his voice that filled her. “Elissa, love, you’re scaring me, look at me please.”

She peered through the bedclothes to see him. He peeled away at the sheets that twisted around her to find her face. She found him staring at her, concern furrowing his smooth brow, his hair mussed from sleep. Eyes turned downward in concern he looked into her scared eyes wide in disbelief.

“A-a-a-listair? B-b-but you were. . . I watched and I tried but they-“

He kissed her forehead and rested his cheek on the same spot. “A dream, love. I’m here. Hush now. I need to bring Aislinn back to the room.” His words slow and deliberate to keep her calm.” I’m going to keep talking with you while I go. Did you know that the market now sells fish that can walk you home?” His voice dimmed slightly as he moved into the kitchen. “It’s true, the other day I watched one walk the miller’s children home without even knowing the way.”

Elissa was slowly returning to herself and found herself lost in Alistair’s words. “Fish that walk? Al, are you feeling all right?”

He entered the room with Aislinn asleep in his arms. “Yes, I’m fine, I just couldn’t think of anything else to say and I wanted to keep talking for you. So walking fish made sense at the time.”

Alistair laid Aislinn in her bed and climbed in next to Elissa. He pulled back the covers and gestured for her to come closer.

“Alistair, this is not the time.” Elissa warned. 

“Not everything is about lovemaking, Lis. Let me hold you until you fall asleep. I’ll keep the bad dreams away for the night if you do and I promise to be here when you wake.”

Alistair forced himself to stay awake listening to Elissa’s breathing until it slowed. He wondered about her dream and what she saw, but wanted to help her forget and move on.

_Across the waking sea, Teagan Guerrin stands in antechamber waiting to deliver a report to Her Majesty Queen Anora. The parchments in his hands detail the appearance of a ginger haired man and his wife near Tantervale in the Free Marches. The couple’s young daughter is just under two years of age with her mother’s eyes and her father’s hair and fair complexion._

_The agent was positive of the identity and tried to refuse payment when he learned who the couple was in truth  prompting Teagan to continue to stall the Queen in her search for answers. He reads through the documents again and sighs as he knocks his head against the mantle. He remembers the selfless acts of the Hero, saving Redcliffe, Connor and the Arl when she did not have to help._

_She asked their family for nothing in return when she could have demanded everything, including the rule of Ferelden. He served at the discretion of the Queen and wondered if he could betray the last of Maric’s line for a woman he truly despised._

_“Not this time.” He says to no one and tosses the folder in the flames. He does not leave the room even when called until every last shard of paper is gone.  When Teagan is satisfied the proof never existed, he walks solemnly to deliver bad news to Ferelden’s crown. Alistair is indeed dead._


End file.
